Bird, Voit in tight competition for 1B

CLEARWATER, Fla. — This much can be said regarding the neck-and-neck competition for the starting job as the Yankees’ first baseman:

First, a decision isn’t coming soon as there’s been little separation to this point in the spring training performances of Greg Bird and Luke Voit, who entered the competition as the favorite.

And second, despite some speculation to the contrary, the loser of the competition will be headed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at season’s start.

“It is tough for me to envision us having two first basemen,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Especially when I feel like (D.J.) LeMahieu would get some backup reps there.”

Boone spoke late Thursday morning before the Yankees’ 6-0 victory over the Phillies at Spectrum Field, a game in which the competition continued with Voit and Bird both in the lineup.

Voit, starting at first, went 0-for-1 with two walks. The 28-year-old, who hit 14 homers after taking every-day first-base duties from Bird on Aug. 24, is hitting .286 with a 1.126 OPS in camp.

Bird, the DH, went 1-for-3 with a walk, giving the 26year-old, whose Yankees career has been mostly about his inability to stay healthy, a .389 spring training average with a 1.222 OPS.

“I don’t want to say we’re going to go one way a week out or say (it will be) down to the wire,” Boone said of a timetable for determining a winner. “I guess in a perfect world it becomes clear. The reality is it might not be because we’ve got two players that are looking the part in a big way right now.”

Both players have options and are aware that one of them will end spring training disappointed and minorleague bound.

But they get it. “That’s just how the game is,” said the right-handedhitting Voit, who came to the Yankees from the Cardinals last season before the trade deadline. “Playing in the National League, they want versatility now, and that’s a big part of it. Obviously, me and Greg both are first base/ DH kind of guys so I understand.”

Voit

Bird